I have to admit that when I first saw the report in Vice I thought “Are you crazy? Giving weed to kids? This is exactly the kind of thing we’re trying to avoid!” After a closer reading, it turns out that it makes good sense. quote.

Quote:The federal government and human Keebler elf Jeff Sessions may still consider weed a Schedule I drug that’s “only slightly less awful” than heroin, but there’s a huge amount of research to prove otherwise. Medical marijuana has been effective in the treatment of everything from Alzheimer’s to chronic pain to seizures, and it’s even showing promise for people living with HIV.

Colorado has been pushing to destigmatize weed since it legalized recreational marijuana back in 2012, and now, the state has taken another massive step toward embracing cannabis’s medical benefits—by allowing children to take medical marijuana at school.End of quote.

Holy spliff batman! Does that mean kids can smoke weed in school in Colorado? Not so fast, Robin.

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Music festival season is around the corner and, over the ditch, there’s already been at least one death thanks to draconian drug laws. Like a stopped clock that’s right twice a day, the far-Left Guardian newspaper reports. quote.

Quote:A 19-year-old man is dead and three others are critically ill after suspected drug overdoses at a dance party in Sydney.

Police said they had been attending the “Knockout Games of Destiny” dance party at Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday night[…]End of quote.

Let’s be clear here. The only thing this young man did wrong was he did not have the wisdom to distrust whoever sold him the drugs that killed him. He simply took a substance that was not what he was told it was, or it was much more potent than he thought. quote.

Quote:More than 18,000 people attended the party. Police officers at the event issued 69 banning notices and conducted more than 200 searches, with 62 people found in possession of drugs[…]

The south west metropolitan region commander, assistant commissioner Peter Thurtell, said police would not let up on trying to stop drug use at dance parties[…]

Earlier this year, two people died after overdosing at Sydney music festival Defqon.1, prompting the creation of an expert panel to advise the New South Wales government on drug-related deaths at festivals.End of quote.

Just as a side note, the panel was instructed not to entertain any consideration of recommendations for drug testing. As in, not even to listen to them. quote.

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On the 24th of September of this year a report was released that has the potential to save millions of lives, free millions more from virtual slavery, and deal a crushing blow to organised crime and gangs.

Quote:Children as young as 11 are getting hooked on synthetic cannabis in a Napier suburb known for being a popular source of the drug.End of quote.

11 years old. How the Nicky Hager did we get here?

Before I answer that I’d like to start by clearing one thing up. Synthetic cannabis isn’t just a label. Synthetic cannabis is synthetic cannabis. It works on the brain the same way as normal cannabis. It just can be more potent. Some of it, a lot more potent.

So how did we get here? Let’s start with the closest link. The fact that there are pushers selling drugs to kids. If I had my way there’d be a special place in Dante’s hell for scumbags who push illegal drugs and there’d be a special place in that place for those scumbags who push drugs to kids.

Thing is, under the law, there’s no difference between pushing drugs to adults and pushing drugs to kids. Same max penalty. That’s outrageous. Whether you’re a pothead or someone who thinks caffeine should be illegal you have to agree with that.

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Newshub reports on some teetotallers pretending to be researchers: Quote.

Quote:Alcohol warning labels in New Zealand are “highly deficient” according to a new study, and researchers are calling on them to be compulsory and regulated.

But the alcohol industry lobby group says adding warning labels won’t help to reduce the harm caused by alcohol.End of quote.

And the alcohol industry lobby group is right. Quote.

Quote:Researchers from the University of Otago examined 59 labels on a range beers, wines, and RTDs to check the health warnings they had displayed.

“One of our biggest findings is that our warnings are small and they’re also hard to find on the bottle… the average size of the picture warnings is the same size as that of a green pea,” said the study’s lead author and fifth year medical student Georges Tinawi.End of quote.

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A bill to toughen up prison sentences for suppliers of psychoactive drugs is set to pass its first reading thanks to the backing of National and Labour’s coalition partner, New Zealand First.

National’s Pakuranga MP Simeon Brown’s private member’s bill, which would increase the maximum penalty for supplying psychoactive drugs from two to eight years’ jail, will have its first reading in Parliament today.

Labour and the Green parties oppose the bill because they say it won’t dent drug use or supply, but simply add to the country’s burgeoning prison muster.

And Labour and the Greens are right. Drug dealers aren’t deterred by the risk of going to to jail given the huge profits.

But Labour’s coalition partner New Zealand First will support the first reading.

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Carry Nation with her hatchet in 1910. This hatchet-wielding crusader is remembered for her attacks on liquor establishments in Kansas and other states during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Lady with the Hatchet

Her name was Carry A. Nation, and instead of changing laws, she went after the offending beverage of the day — liquor — with a hatchet

I felt invincible. My strength was that of a giant. God was certainly standing by me. I smashed five saloons with rocks before I ever took a hatchet

-Carry A. Nation

A self-proclaimed “bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn’t like,” Nation terrorized the nation’s saloon keepers through vandalism for more than a decade.

Nothing could stop her, not divorce, horse whippings, or more than 30 arrests. She was pelted with rotten eggs, chased by lynch mobs, beaten by prostitutes, and vilified by preachers, politicians and the press. She didn’t care. She was on a mission from God.

During Prohibition, the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages were restricted or illegal. Prohibition was supposed to lower crime and corruption, reduce social problems, lower taxes needed to support prisons and poorhouses, and improve health and hygiene in America. Instead, Alcohol became more dangerous to consume; organized crime blossomed; courts and prisons systems became overloaded; and endemic corruption of police and public officials occurred.

During the early 1900s there was a social trend building in the public arena toward prohibition of alcohol that manifested itself in the form of a temperance movement. A prominent agitator in the women’s temperance movement was a lady by the name of Carry Nation. Carry believed that she was ordained by God to promote temperance by entering illegal saloons that were flagrantly operating in defiance of the law and destroying their bars and stock.

Meet the Man Who Got Congress Its Booze During Prohibition

One day in March 1925—five years into the absurd experiment called Prohibition—a dapper man named George Cassiday strolled into the office building of the U.S. House of Representatives, carrying a briefcase and wearing a spiffy light green hat. The cop at the door recognized Cassiday, which wasn’t surprising. Nearly everybody on Capitol Hill knew Cassiday. He was Congress’ favourite bootlegger, working out of the House Office Building, delivering booze to dozens of congressmen, who found a strong drink soothing after long days spent listening to tedious political blather.

On this day, however, the cop stopped Cassiday, inspected his briefcase, found liquor, and arrested him.

When reporters heard that a bootlegger was busted in Congress, they called the House sergeant-at-arms, who described the miscreant as “a man in a green hat.” The next morning, Cassiday became famous across America as “The Man in the Green Hat,” a living symbol of congressional hypocrisy and the follies of Prohibition.

Cassiday pleaded guilty and served 60 days in jail. When he got out, he learned that he’d been barred from the House Office Building. Obviously, he needed another place to work. So he moved to the Senate Office Building. He sold booze there for five years, until 1930, when he was arrested delivering gin to the Senate. This time Prohibition agents confiscated Cassiday’s “little black book,” containing the names of his illustrious customers.

In October 1930—two weeks before the congressional election—the Washington Post announced that it would publish a six-part series written by Cassiday, revealing the juicy details of his adventures as Congress’ “official bootlegger.”

We have spent forty years on the ‘War on Drugs’ in this country, and not a single positive outcome has occurred.

It is the same around the world and is leading countries to look at alternatives. Portugal is a classic example, that shows that contrary to the nay-sayers, decriminalisation can actually work in addressing the harm of drugs.

So, in New Zealand people are now having to re-think our approach…the problem though is just a single, old fashioned old fool can hold up any real progress.

Drug law reform. Is there any better example of a heart versus head issue? Logic and rationality tells you that the system does not work, that drugs are a medical issue not a criminal one. But your gut says lock all the junkies and potheads up.

It is Ross Bell’s job to wrestle with these dilemmas. For 11 years he has been chief executive of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, a charitable trust charged with preventing and reducing harms caused by drug use.

The irony is that decriminalisation of drugs can reduce harms more effectively than prohibition. This is where the Drug Foundation now finds itself. Bell’s current angle is that our drug law turns 40 this year and is showing its age. Time for an overhaul.

The Misuse of Drugs Act became law in 1975, during the last days of Bill Rowling’s Labour government. It was that long ago, a time of dancing cossacks, disco and Fleetwood Mac. The big drug scares were heroin and LSD.

But New Zealand was really being a follower and getting behind the United States, Bell says. President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs in 1971. The United Nations agreed on a new drugs treaty in the same year. New Zealand had to keep up. Read more »

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.